Teenager shot dead as rival gangs

[dla4079]

Teenager shot dead as rival gangs clashed at barbecue

An 18-year-old aspiring film director was gunned down in Battersea when he became mixed up in a gang dispute, the Old Bailey heard last week.

Fabian Ricketts, of Mitcham, was shot when an argument with up to 20 youths turned into a fatal attack involving a knife, pistol and sawn-off shotgun, according to witnesses.

The three defendants, who all deny the murder, are 19-year-old Jordan Burree, of Emu Road, Battersea, 22-year-old Terence Clarke, of the Patmore estate, Battersea, and Christian Vasquez, 22, of Smedley Street, Clapham.

One of the alleged killers was heard to say "good - you got bun," Jamaican patois for "you got shot", according to prosecutor Brendan Finucane QC.

The jury heard how on April 17 last year, Mr Ricketts, who worked at Woolworths in Streatham, drove three of his friends to the Battersea Bar, in York Road, Battersea, where crowds of people had gathered for a barbecue at about 9.30pm.

By the time they arrived, a gang-related argument had kicked off, forcing the bar's landlord to call the police.

With Mr Ricketts was a friend, identified only as Witness C, who thought he recognised one of the youths as they approached.

"He put his arm out of the window in an attempt to catch that man's attention," said Mr Finucane.

When they got out the car, 20 youths in hooded tops surrounded Witness C, and accused him of pointing his hand at them in a gun gesture.

A fight broke out and a knife, gun and shotgun were produced, the jury heard.

"Both Fabian and Witness C were in conflict with different people," said the prosecutor, however "the situation seemed to calm down slightly, but then the two girls, who had also got out of the car, became embroiled in an argument".

Mr Ricketts intervened, but Witness C saw him jerk back as if he had lost his balance. Witness C was also injured, suffering a blow to the back of the head with a pistol.

He was later treated for a 7cm gash to his head.

Witnesses claimed Vasquez, who is of Columbian origin, and was nicknamed Termite, pulled a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun from the waistband of his trousers shortly before the shooting.

Another witness said it was Burree who held the pistol used to hit Witness C and then made the comment about Mr Ricketts getting shot.

The jury also heard one of the defendants, 22-year-old Terence Clarke, was stabbed in the neck.

A knife found nearby matched one taken earlier from Mr Ricketts' mother's kitchen.

Mr Ricketts, who was shot through the heart and left lung, died later at St George's Hospital.

The trial continues.

7:15pm Monday 23rd April 2007

[jmur5074]

Note to self:

Cancel my RSVP to the 17th Annual Bloods/Crips Spring time Cookout and 3-legged race.

[Ducky]

Wait, dude shows up at a barbeque with his own knife? Or did I miss something?

A knife found nearby matched one taken earlier from Mr Ricketts' mother's kitchen.

[Standard Dave]

Live by the sword die by the sword or in this case pistol, sawn off shotgun and knife.

It would appear that the deceased in this case did indeed take a knife to a gun fight.
I expect he took the knife to make sure his food was properly cooked BBQ food can be a real killer if it's not done all the way through.

[BEB]

Shoot first, eat BBQ later.

[Pedro56]

What films was he trying to make? I bet he was like all the other mopes that have gone before him they were aspiring to be doctors, astronauts and professors at Yale.

[phantasm]

1/2 the perp on perp crimes in NYC call the "victim" an "aspiring rapper." This time it was an "aspiring filmmaker."